Dos horas menos cuarto antes de Jesucristo

Despite I am a french man I can say that this movie (made to laught at the characters) is a piece of clownery: so it is pitiable! Furthermore, this film is blasphemous , free of charge, without any historical background. I am not a puritan but so many grimaces are too much for any interest! Jean Yanne, the chief of the staff had to pay taxes to the State, may be. It is an opinion, no more!

First, a non-French may have quite a few difficulties to detect / understand every reference (I'll take the example of the "CRS" - acronym of Roman security guards but also used to name well-known specialized police forces). Yes there are funny and well thought anachronisms. They were actually the biggest interest I found, as the movie was crowded by it, the game was to detect more than the friends you were watching it with (Don't watch it alone!)

But the movie is merely a succession of sketches, only a few funny. Overuses clichés and stereotypes. It surfs (and really a too long time) of the previous huge success Michel Serrault had with "La cage aux folles".

In a few words: comical - at some occasions, appalling - often

This film is probably one of the best comedies shot in France in the 80's (with "Papy fait de la Résistance" by Jean-Marie Poirée), being a blend of Monty Python's humour with strong influence by Goscinny (the father of Astérix and other Franco-Belgian cartoons), especially in its use of anachronisms and burlesque humour. It also features a great cast with Coluche (playing the French average man as Ben Hur Marcel, the son of a garage man and plotter in spite of himself) and Serrault (an effeminate Cezar) at their best, and a handful of hilarious special guests (actors Darry Cowl, Paul Preboist, Michel Constantin, TV journalists Yves Mourousi and Leon Zitrone). Of course you should not expect very subtle humour here and sometimes it does not work ; moreover, this film has been intended for a French audience and it might be difficult to translate some of the jokes, whereas some situations might not ring a bell for non-French viewers. When Monty Python's "Life of Bryan" plays with the historical background, in 2h-15 it is a pure pretext for comedy. A must for Christmas time in France.

Yikes! Well. When I discovered that there was a kind of French parallel to "Life of Brian" (and quite big-budget!), I wildly wanted to see it and ordered the Blu-ray straightaway (it has English subtitles). One of the many things that work against this movie (at least for those of us who aren't French) is its title, which is long, very hard to remember, and just as hard to spell.

Another thing is that this is not a religious satire at all, but just a comedy spoof of the old "Cleopatra" movie, mixed in with a lot of elements from Asterix. Quite possibly, this is funny for a French audience, but to anyone else, its extreme Frenchness works against it. Back in Roman days (or was it the Renaissance?), gay themes were ridiculed as "Greek love", but today, based on this and other movies, gay themes are very, very French. After seeing this, I suddenly understand all the references to French gayness in the Blackadder New Year's Special: Back and Forth. This cringiness is another reason that this movie has been buried by the collective memory of the international community, although it has to be said that it could get a renaissance in the post-metoo world. But to heteros, this is not the kind of movie you show to your male friends!

The sad fact of the matter is that, while it held my attention, this movie just wasn't very funny. I laughed maybe two or three times in it. And I watch a lot of foreign movies and am very open to them. So in that sense it was a disappointment, but, on the other hand, it is very bizarre and relatively big-budget, and as such I was fascinated by the fact that it exists in the world. It was thought-provoking in terms of cinematic history, and in terms of cinematic weirdness.

Mediocre comedy set just before the arrival of Christ. Ceasar is preparing to receive Cleopatra. But the people is not happy with Ceasar's governance. There's some good scene, like the gladiators going on strike because they want better work conditions. Funny also to see that they had television at the time! Also, the advertisement during the circus. But there's also tasteless humor in this one. I mean, come on, the whole scene with Ceasar being gay. It's so typical of the bad taste comedies from the 80's. And the scene goes on, and on, and on. I almost fell asleep. Michel Serrault's talent is wasted as Ceasar. And Coluche's character is not too inspiring neither.

Out of 100, I give it 67. That's good for *½ out of ****.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on December 10th, 2002.